Hamilton, NJ- born artist Mavis Smith moved to the New Hope, PA area in 1990, after a decade in New York City, during which time she studied at Pratt Institute and subsequently established a career as a children’s book author and illustrator. In recent years, she has chosen to concentrate more fully on her fine art work, which has been exhibited in New York and Philadelphia, as well as many local venues, including the Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA..

For the past several years Mavis has worked in egg tempera, a medium that she was introduced to in 2002, when she took one of Koo Schadler’s incredible workshops. Her paintings are figurative, with a remote, slightly surreal edge. The subjects inhabit strange rooms with glimpses of ethereal exteriors, hinting at intentionally ambiguous narratives occurring just beyond the perimeter.